Procycling brings you the colour, action and drama of the world's most spectacular sport in a glossy and dynamic magazine. It's the authoritative, worldwide voice of international professional road racing, distributed in every country where there are English-speaking fans. With exclusive features and spectacular photography, Procycling brings to life the complexities, rivalries and hardships of the European professional scene.

Cycling Plus is the manual for the modern road cyclist. Whether you're cycling weekly, an occasional new rider or a Tour de France fan you’ll find everything you need. Every issue is packed with expert reviews of the latest road bikes and gear, inspirational routes and rides, evocative features that take you inside every aspect of cycling and unmatched nutrition, fitness and training advice.

What Mountain Bike is the magazine that gets to the heart of what matters in mountain biking. Whether it’s new bikes, fresh kit, inspiring photography or the low down on the latest trail developments, What Mountain Bike has something for every rider. Our team cuts through jargon and marketing spin to tell you what you need to know, with honest, informed opinions and a wealth of experience.

Mountain Biking UK celebrates everything that is great about mountain biking, enabling people of all abilities and ages to have a better time on their bike. MBUK brings you all the latest news, coolest kit, plus exclusive info on the newest and best bikes that you can buy.

Other makes were seen within the Rock Racing warm-up tent including a camouflaged Scott Plasma…

James Huang, technical editor

…and even a Look 496 whose distinctive shapes were easy to identify.

James Huang, technical editor

The Look 496 bears a particularly unique-looking bottom bracket area…

James Huang, technical editor

…but the Look Ergostem and unique fork arrangement were the dead giveaways.

James Huang, technical editor

Electrical tape was liberally applied to conceal the Look logos.

James Huang, technical editor

Hey guys, you missed a spot!

James Huang, technical editor

Rock Racing's Mario Cipollini rode his own make of bike for this year's prologue.

James Huang, technical editor

Cipollini makes his way to the start amidst a throng of fans…

James Huang, technical editor

…and is escorted by a Rock Racing bodyguard!

James Huang, technical editor

Rock Racing has secured Cole Products as its wheel sponsor.

James Huang, technical editor

Even so, there were plenty of non-Cole wheels littered about the team area.

James Huang, technical editor

GT doesn't make a time trial frame so Jelly Belly uses these mystery substitutes

James Huang, technical editor

Mmm… jelly beans!

James Huang, technical editor

Some Jelly Belly riders rode aluminum frames, not carbon ones.

James Huang, technical editor

Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast used Trek TTX frames as leMond also has no time trial frame

James Huang, technical editor

SRAM debuted a prototype chainring. Supposedly stiffer, it also provides WAY more room for logos.

James Huang, technical editor

Production models will be quite a bit lighter than these protos.

James Huang, technical editor

Teams are even using aero bottles these days.

James Huang, technical editor

Trek's previous generation TTX sheltered the cables; Trek picked up on this fairly early on

James Huang, technical editor

Team High Road makes an effort to tuck in its cables by virtue of some zip ties.

James Huang, technical editor

Ben Jacques-Maynes' Pinarello Montello FM1 gets the same treatment.

James Huang, technical editor

Image 1 of 48

The Tour of California prologue was just 3.4km (2.1mi) long, but its relatively flat course meant that teams and riders paid special attention to aerodynamics.

Wind tunnel testing has long been an integral part of the early season preparations, but as teams and riders have become better at cheating the wind, little details are beginning to make more of a difference.

Cables, cables, go away

As it turns out, poor cable housing placement apparently has a more detrimental effect than was once thought and teams are being more mindful of cable routing than in years past. Housing has a relatively small frontal area but its round cross-section creates turbulent airflow at the front end of the bike that can affect the performance of the more aerodynamically shaped surfaces behind it.

The Slipstream/Chipotle riders left the start house aboard Felt's latest DA frames which were designed using computational fluid dynamics software and wind tunnel testing. As a result, Felt engineers routed the derailleur and rear brake housings into the frame right behind the stem where the air was already ‘dirty' from the rider's hands and arms, thus leaving clean air around critical frame regions.

According to Slipstream team physiologist Allen Lim, sheltered housing consistently saves about 1-2 watts in the wind tunnel without the rider aboard. Lim said that adding the rider does wash that result out a bit, but, "it still matters."

The concept isn't new (Zipp incorporated the feature in its radical 2001 frame from the early 90's) but other makers have followed suit, such as Trek with its Equinox TTX used by Astana, and previously Discovery. On frames not designed with internal cable housing, team mechanics made use of zip ties, electrical tape and whatever else would work to tuck the lines around the stem.

That small detail probably didn't make that much of a difference during the short prologue, where the fastest times were under four minutes, but could very well have an impact on Friday's longer time trial stage in Solvang.

Zipp and PowerTap get together

Power meters have always been a critical part of Slipstream's training and racing equipment but in the past, riders have either had to ride deep-section rims built around PowerTap hubs during time trial events or simply go without if they opted for discs. But we spotted a couple of Slipstream riders at the prologue with new Zipp discs, both of which were co-developed with PowerTap to incorporate the power measuring technology inside a new hub.

One of the wheels is based on the flat-sided Zipp 900 for riders that prefer a stiffer wheel while the other incorporates the company's latest Sub9 shape. Zipp claims its Sub9 is not only the first wheel to yield negative drag (otherwise known as lift) under certain wind tunnel conditions but also delivers a more comfortable ride as well.

The Zipp-designed hubs include PowerTap's latest 2.4GHz wireless hardware but use Zipp axles, bearings, and freehub internals. According to Zipp marketing manager Andy Paskins, the PowerTap-equipped wheels add only 120g to the standard versions and hubs will be available with ceramic bearings as an upgrade.

Rock Racing goes against the clock with an amalgamation of equipment

Rock Racing has been awash with controversy lately and not even its relationships with bicycle and equipment sponsors past and present has been spared. DeRosa emerged as the team's bicycle supplier earlier this season and we expected to see the team's abbreviated roster aboard the Italian company's TT model, the carbon fibre Kron.

Instead, we spotted no fewer than three different makes of bikes in the pits prior to the start of the prologue. Half-hearted camouflage efforts did little to hide the distinctive shapes of Scott's Plasma TT and Look's 496 frames and there were no Kron framesets to be seen at all (although they may have pulled them out when we weren't watching). At least one rider took off on an aluminium DeRosa Protos road model fitted with clip-on aero bars.

Team boss Michael Ball has managed to strike a wheel sponsorship deal with Cole Products, though, and most team bikes we spotted were equipped as such, along with big green "ROCK RACING" decals, naturally. Still, the team pit area was littered with a wide range of other models from manufacturers such as Mavic, Zipp, Lightweight, and Lew Racing.